Cursing kids: Are parents to blame?

SONGS, the internet and television are full of it, but it seems it’s mum and dad who make the rules on swearing.

Kids are swearing earlier and more prolifically than ever before – and it is more to do with mimicking their parents than being influenced by the media.

True, an increasing level of swearing is everywhere now – on the radio in the songs our kids sing along to and on the TV shows being aired at “family-friendly” times – but an ongoing US study is pointing the finger of blame at mums and dads.

Early results have found that swearing starts as early as the age of two and has set in between three and four.

In an article for the Association for Psychological Science, psychology professor Timothy Jay writes that by the time children enter school, they have a working vocabulary of 30 to 40 offensive words. He also suggests that the rise in cursing among kids mirrors a similar increase in adults over the past 30 years. This is where children are picking it up.